Fuel-feeding system for automobiles.



W. H. MUZZY. FUE L- FEEDING SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOBILES. APPLICATION FILED MAY 26. 1917.

1,294,521. Patented Feb. 18, 1919.

7 7g" I w I1 [0 r I Z Qaw 6 J-? I Q .1%? {W T NESSE S: INVENT OR fr ML L citizen of the United States, residing at De- FUEL-FEEFJIKENG SYSTEhi FQR AUTUIKOBILES.

Learner.

Specification of Lctters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1%, ill-high Application filed May as. law. seriai nc. rzi iao."

To' all whom it may concern Y Be it known that 1, WILLIAM TLEMUZZY, a

troit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michiga,n, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fuel-Feeding Systems for Automobiles, 01 which I declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates toimprovements in fuel feeding systems. for automobiles or the "like and has more particular relation to improvements in devlces of the character shown and described in my patents numbered l,2Ol,077, issued OctflO, 1916, and

1,222,235, issued Apr. 10, 1917, and my copending application No. 151,023, filed Feb.

" for causing One of the several objectsot the invention 1s to provide-improved means whereby in a vacuumsystem such as shown in my aforesaid patents" there will be no chance of e system hecomingexhausted by all of the lene passing out of the same.

imother object is the provision of means a positive operation of the siphon.

Another object of the invention is the provision of improved means for suspending the operation of the devices when the tank has taken its maximum quantity.

, A further object of the invention is the provision of means for preventing the gaso- Tlene from passing int'o the air suction pipe ear going down a very steep grade.

when the tank is tipped abnormally by the WA still further object of the invention is the provision of a simplified construction of siphon and air feedpipe and the control devices connected thereto.

lln carrying these and other objects of the "inventioninto efi'ect I utilize certain construfiions, combinations and arrangements of parts all of which will be hereinafter more particularly set forth and claimed,

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification;

fold of the engine and draw the gasolene from a relatively low main fuel tank at the rear of the car in intermittent pumping operations as described and shown in my aforesa d patents and application and reference is made to the patents for any further description of these parts desired. mg drawn into the elevated tank the gasolene is fed to the relatively lower carbureter ot' the engine 'by gravity. This is all old and well known in the art.

In the aforesaid drawings 1 represents the outer chamber or tank, 2 the vacuum chamher or tank and 3 the intermediate control chamber. main supply tank at the rear of the car and fed into the vacuum chamber or tank 2 through a pipe 13 suitably mounted in the top plate to which latter the tanks 2-and 1 are secured by flanges 37 and 38 and screws 36 with suitable intermediate packing. The gasolene discharges from the tank 2 through pipes 10 and 11 each of which is provided at its lower end with a one way gravity After be- The gasolene is drawn from the valve of a well known type. This valve comprises in each instance an apertured seat 24 and a flapper valve 22 covering the aperture therein. This flapper normally seats by gravity and is held in position by two screws 23 which pass through enlarged apertures formed in the flapper and screw into the seat 24. The heads of the screws limit the outward movements of the flapper. The valve connected to the pipe 11 is detachable by means of screw threads 26 so that the pipe 11 may be passed through the compression attachment 31 fast in the bottom of the tank 3 when the devices are assembled. and the seat 24 then applied. The flapper of this valve is also formed with a small notch 30 so that enough gasolene may es- I cape past the valve to fill the pipe 11 during the pumping operation and thus prevent air from being trapped in the pipe.

It will be seen from the above that the tank 3 which is in the form of a deep cup is supported in position by the pipe 11, and the compression attachment 31. The CHP'BX'.

tends up about the tank 2 as shown so that ferent engines. The pipe 11 is soldered fast in the bottom of the tank 2' and projects up into these-me a sutliclent distance to assure that the proper quantity of gaso lenewill always be trapped in the tank 2 to fully supply the tank 3and not get into theiouter tank 1 where it would be lost as far as the tank 3 is concerned.-

The siphon comprises a cap 6 and a tube 5, the lattersoldered fast in the bottom of the cup 3' and the former soldered fast to the air control pipe 4, this pipe in turn being soldered fast in the bottom of the tank 2. The pipe 4 extends from near the top plate 35 to aslight distance below the bottom of the tank 3. The lower end of the pipe 5 is closed and connected to the level control pipe 7. This pipe is bent and projects upward to near the upper end of the tank 3 and near its upper end is formed with air apertures 9. A cap pipe 8 having its upper end closed is placed over the pipe 7 and, 7

' maintain the level a-a while the carbureter supply pipe 25- projects far enough into the tank 1 to maintain the level c0. The level 6-?) is the working level maintained by the control tube 8.

- The suction pipe 12 from the manifold'of the. engine is connected to the top plate35 in any suitable manner,-said plate being also formed with a cleaning aperture "closedby a plug 33.

In devlces such as herein described, when the car is going down a grade so steep that p the tank at the rear of the car takes a position higher than the tank 1 the gasolene iu.

the rear tank will feed by gravity into the tank ,2 and would pass into the pipe 12 unless means is provided to prevent ,thls; Tlus means in the present case is a cork float 14 supported by a pivoted arm 16. The float is provided with a pin 21 having an enlarged head to which is pivoted the stem 19 oi the conical valve 15; The stem is pro-' vided with a laterally projecting pin 20 which rests in enlarged horizontal apertures 34 of the lever 16, the latter being formed with a vertical aperture 40 shown in dotted lines and through which the stem 19 passes. Should the tank 2 flood as abo\-'e'de'scribe4:l

the valve 15 will rise and close the end of the.

pipe 13 and prevent the gasolene from filling .the chamber. -The cycles of pumping will continue however without any gasolene-being fed from the-main tank until the supply in; the chamber 2 is lowered enough to'allow the valve 15 to again uncover the pipe 13.

- Whenthe engine of the'car is stopped all the gasolenein the tank 2 will be free of this pipe and covers the ends of the pipes starting to fill the tank'3 andtherefore just YVhen the engine is started the suction in the tank 2 will draw thega'solene up thepipe 4 which. is of small diameter and at the same time through the pipe 13 from. the.

main tank. Finally 'the gasolene from the tank 3 will be exhausted and air will pass up the pipe 4 and allow the gasolene in the tank 2 to descend through the pipes -10 and 11. When the gasolene in the tank 3 reaches the upper'end of the pipe 5 it flow-s down 4 and 7 and starts the pumping operation again. .When the gasolene in the tank 3 reaches the lower end of the cap pipe 6 the siphon is broken and airipasses up thelipip'e 4 and the operation; is repeated, the pipe 7 clearing of gasolene as the siphon. clears. When the gasolene 'lets down through the pipe 1-1 and rises in the tank 1 until it seals the lower end of the cap pipe 8', the gasolene is drawn up "in the pipe 8 a certain dis- 9o tance by the suction through the-pipe 7 and apertures 9 but not far enough to pass into the p1pe7. It will beremembered that this operatlon takes place vwhile the 'gasolene is f 9'5 assoon as the lower end .of the pipe 8 is sealed and the air to .the'pipe about oil the suction from this latter plpeiwill cause the siphon too crate even though ;the gasolenehas notreac ied'the upper end of the pipe 5.160 When the siphon .e1npti'es,' it nowv stays empty as the'air tube 7 is sealed and gasolene can only pass down ll1l30" tlle tank 3 until it seals the lower end. of the pipe 6 when gasolene will start to pass-through the siphon andpipe 4 together with air, This does not closeth'e pipe4 sutficiently-to cause any pumping operation and "the operation of the tank is suspended until the gasolene in the tank 1 has again uncoveredthe lower end of the pipe'8 when air can again pass through the pipe 7 and allow the tank 3 to fill and the pumping operations to'be resumed. It will be observed that the level b.?) is below the valve, connected to the 11:; pipe 10 and the feedthrough the pipe 11 always dominates the feed through the pipe 10. Thus when the suspended operation above described is taking place, the {men-- lene in the tank 2 above the upper end of the pipe 11 will gradually pass down the pipe 11 and into the tank 1 keeping the lower end of the pipe 8 sealed until the level in the tank 2 descends below the upperend of the pipe 11. When ,the level in the 126 tank 1 lowers and uncovers the lower end of the pipe 8, the gasolene that has been partly drawn up into this pipe will pass back into the tank 1 and leave pipe 8"freefor the passage of air. As the distance gaslimited in this respect as the float may verv the tube 5 in volume and thuscause a olene would have to be raised in the pipe 8 before 1t could flow into pipe 7 is greater than the greatest elevation itwould have to rise to flow through the siphon 56'tl1e siphon always operates rather than the gasopipe 8 to lene to passup far enough in the enter the pipe 7 through port 9.

It will be understood that in the normal operation of the tank the. fioatdoesnot come into operation at all but I do not care to be well operate at all times to shut off the feed of gasolene when the tank 2 becomes too full and in such case the control pipe 8-may be,

eliminated if desired. In most machines the grade at which the gasolene from the main tank would flow by gravity into the vacuum I tank is about 15% and roads of this grade though only a few drops are pumped each. time and these few drops are fed to the,

tank 1.

A cleaning plug 32 is provided-in the bottom of the tank 1.

It will further be observed that when the tank 3 fills and the gasolene starts to. run over or splash over the top of the tube 5, this gasolene will pass down the tube and will seal the air pipe 7 through Which-air is passing to the tube or vent 4: and will thus cause the suction to be exerted on th;

siphon to draw the ga-solene over the top full and perfect 'operationof'the siphon which will in turn cause the sealingfor a predetermined time of the pipe 4' and a corresponding pumping operation of the same duration. The peculiar construction ofthe siphon also causes the suction through the pipe 4 to fullyclear the siphon when the latter breaks after a full operation. A small siphon when it breaks is aptto retain a small amount of the liquid in each end held in suspension. This would interfere with the next operation of the siphon. The liquid in the lower part of the pipe 7. not elevated, however, until after the siphon fully clears because of the suction from thepipe I. Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: Y

l 1. In a fuel feeding system the combination with an elevated tank having a vacuum chamber and a supply chamber, of a vacuum .pipe connected-to the vacuum chamber. a 7 fuel supply cpnnection for the vacuum chamher, a control tank, an air pipe for the vacuum chamber and means for sealing and unsealing the air pipe from both the control tank and the supply chamber. 2. In a fuel feeding system the'combina tion with an elevated tank having a vacuum chamber and a supply chamber, of a vacuum pipe connected'to the vacuum chamber, a

fuel supply connection for the vacuum chamber, a control tank, an air pipe for the vacuum chambersealed and unsealed by the gasolene in-the control tank and a' pipe sealed and unsealed by the 'gasolene in the sup 1y chamber and connected-to supply air to t e air pipe when the connection of the latter with the control tank is sealed.

tion with an elevated tank having'a vacuum chamber and a supply chamber, of a control tank, a vacuum pipe connected to the vacuum chamber, a fuel supply connection for the vacuum chamber. a siphon control ling the discharge from said control tank, an air pipe for the vacuum chamber receiving the supply from the. siphon and an air plpe connected to the siphon and controlled from thesupply chamber. 4. In a fuel feeding system-the combination with an elevated tank having a vacuum chamber and a supply chamber, of a vacuum pipe connected to the vacuum chamber. a

. fuel supply connection for the vacuum chamber, an airvent for the vacuum chamber. means including a siphon for sealing and unsealing the air vent and devices for compelling a full. flow of-the siphon when a partial flow is started.

-5. In a fuel feeding system the combination with an elevated tank having aivacuum chamber and a supply chamber, ofa vacuum pipe connected to the vacuum chamber, a fuel-supply connection for the vacuum cham- I 3. In a fuel feeding system the combinaher. an air vent for the vacuum chamber sealed and unsealed by the liquid" gasolene to cause pumping cycles, a-valve for closing the fuel supply, and means-for operating the valve when the maximum capacity of the tank is reached. p i

6. In a fuel feeding system the combination with an elevated tank having a vacuum chamber and a supply chamber, of a vacuum pipe connected to'the vacuum chamber. a fuel supply connection for the vacuum chamher, a control tank, independent connections from the vacuum chamber to the control tank and to the supply chamber. an air vent for the vacuum chamber and a siphon in the control tank arranged to receive the lower end of the air vent.

7. In a fuel feeding system the combina 01011 with an elevated tank having a vacuum tank, an air vent for the vacuum chamber sealed and unsealed by the siphon, and means controlled by the gasolene in the supply chamber for sealing and unsealing the siphon independently of the gasolene in the pipe connected to the vacuum chamber, a fuel Sill. ply connection for the vacuum.

chamber, a control tank receiving its supply from the vacuum chamber, means connectmg the vacuum and supply chambers independently of the control tank, an air vent 15 for the vacuum chamber, a siphon in the control tank arranged to seal and unseal the air vent and controlling means for holding the level of gasolene in the supply chamber below the operating level in the control tank 20 to cause the feed to the supply chamber to.

dominate.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses. 4

' WILLIAM H. MUZZY.

Witnesses:

L. M. FnaNcrs, E. K. OLSSEN. 

